Security Forums

Security Forums - Posting Guidelines

Introduction

Security Forums (SF) was set up in April 2002 to create a site that
would become a friendly community for security and other areas, for asking
questions, gaining experience and learning in a welcoming atmosphere.

There is a lot of information on the Internet, but it can be very daunting for
a new user or even confusing for an intermediate user. We wanted to get away
from the bad attitudes and flaming of Usenet and create a relaxed, but
knowledgeable user base that will eventually fill our forum with answers to
common questions.

We do always recommend that new users use the Search feature:
http://www.security-forums.com/forum/search.php
As a lot of common questions have already been asked/answered. Below you will
find a list of some General Rules and Posting Guidelines. A link to our full
Terms & Conditions can be found below.

General Rules

First of all this is NOT a hacking/cracking or warez forum,
anything related to these topics unless it is pertinent to a current discussion
or is security related is not welcome.

Only one username is allowed per person, if you have another for any reason please
notify us so
we can remove the redundant account.

Posting

When
posting please take CARE with your posts, double check the spelling
and grammar don't use abbreviations like "ur" and "iz"
and "da" as it's annoying and childish and your posts will be
removed. This is a professional forum and I'm afraid we won't tolerate
sloppy posting. English may not be your first language but that's not excuse
not to make an effort. Read how other people post, use a spell-checker,
this all boils down to having some respect for us and Security Forums.

As far as
posting goes, please do your research, use the search function
(duplicate topics are not welcome and will be removed without notice),
search the web and of course read the manual.

As a
follow on from the above, please do not post your homework questions or
assignments here, the whole point you were given the project was to
further your education (to teach you something), if we answer the
questions for you, you aren't learning anything. We can spot these kinds
of posts easily, however you try to package them; we have all been through
the education system and know what assignments and homework questions look
like. Posts of this kind will be removed.

If you are
not sure what a term or acronym is, please look it up on Google before
asking. If you can't find it, feel free to ask.

DO NOT cross post (post the same question in multiple categories),
it's likely if you do this that all of your posts will be removed.

If a topic
gets locked by a Moderator or an Administrator, please do not restart the
same topic in another thread. This could result in your being banned from
the site

When you
post a question please try and make the subject as specific as possible,
this helps people searching for answers and aids people answering
questions to easily locate questions relevant to their area of expertise
e.g. 'I need help' is not effective whereas 'cannot start MySQL after
restore' is.

If a
discussion in an existing thread sparks a new question or line of debate,
please make a new thread.

You don't
have to post in every thread you see. If you can't be helpful or add
something positive/informative/humorous please don't post. This means NOT
posting "Thanks" at the bottom of a thread or "Yeah, I
agree" or anything of that nature.

Do not
post lengthy cut and paste articles in the middle of a thread. Posting a
link will be fine, just let people know what to expect when they click on
it.

If someone
specifically asks about a product or application, tell them about that,
don't tell them how you think something else is better. Feel free to
answer the question and add that you feel something else is a better
product with justification.

If you
don't like a subject, a poster or a moderator or something/someone gets on
your nerves; stay away. Don't wreck the thread, start a flame war and
don't attempt to act as the moderator of this forum.

Avoid
posting twice or more consecutively in the same thread, if you want to
reply to 2 different people just use [quote="Name"]
twice in 1 post rather than making 2 new posts. Also if you've made a
mistake or have additional information USE the edit button, DO
NOT post again.

When
posting someone else's material please include them as a source at the
bottom both for acknowledgements of their work and for any copyright
issues.

When
posting massive cut and pastes PLEASE PLEASE format them properly
or we will just delete them, it takes us a lot of time to format them, if
you are willing to post it, then format it.

Signatures/Avatars

There are
only a few simple rules for Avatars, when uploading you will face the
first 2, 100x100 pixels max and 8kb max file size.

NO animated Avatars.

No images
in signatures (unless they are SF emoticons and please don't go
overboard).

Only use
standard text size (or smaller), non-obtrusive colors and 5 or fewer lines
in signatures.

NO commercial
sites/entities/corporations etc. in signatures.

Only one
link per signature is now allowed on SF due to previous abuse.

"Donate to me" or any other kind of donation oriented link is not allowed.

We reserve the right to edit or delete any Avatar or Signature
without prior warning if it's against the forum guidelines.